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Pain Relief

My 5 year old cavalier damaged his hip / muscle earlier in the year. This has now become a regular problem for him. Every so often he will start limping and looking at his back leg. Is there a non prescription doggy painkiller that I can give him as a one off when this happens? We humans would take paracetamol. Is there a doggy version? I feel so sorry for him.

My 5 year old cavalier damaged his hip / muscle earlier in the year. This has now become a regular problem for him. Every so often he will start limping and looking at his back leg. Is there a non prescription doggy painkiller that I can give him as a one off when this happens? We humans would take paracetamol. Is there a doggy version? I feel so sorry for him.

It really is dangerous to try and medicate your dog without seeing a vet, and if your dog is regularly limping then the reason he is in pain needs to be found.

What did the vet say was the cause of his problem?

Margaret C

Cavaliers......Faith, The Ginger Tank and Woody.
Japanese Chins.... Dandy, Benny, Bridgette and Hana.
Remembered with love......... Tommy Tuppence and Fonzi

If this is a muscle pain, the standard treatment is complete crate rest for several weeks, which is probably what your vet will tell you. If it is damage to the actual hip - or the base of the spine - he will need an X-ray to diagnose the problem - damage to the bone? arthritis? a damaged disc (quite common in Cavaliers)? Letting him continue walking on it could increase any damage and certainly won't make a strained muscle better. And crate rest really does mean rest - only going out to relieve himself and then slowly getting back into regular exercise. It's a complete bore for both dog and human, but it really does work. Sorry if I sound tough, but his limping needs a proper diagnosis and you really can't cut corners in getting it better. The pain is just a symptom of the real problem.

Sorry, I should have said. He went to vet when he damaged his leg and the vet said it was further up, probably his hip. He was prescribed metacam for three weeks with complete rest. This was in April. The problem is when I take him out and he has a good run. Every so often this results in the limping. He doesn't cry with pain, just limps, so I didn't think the vet would give me anything for him.

I really hate to even mention this but I have a 5 year old cavalier who limps and has trouble with his hind legs. It is actually from sever SM and not a muscle problem at all.

Has the vet done any testing to rule out the exact cause?

I'm not an expert but having 3 SM affected dogs I see the limp/leg weakness from time to time even with medication.

All 3 of my Cavaliers will occasionally turn and look at a specific leg as if there is something on them (but there is nothing there). They will also sometimes twitch the leg or lick at it.

Does your cavalier rub it's head on things? Scratch at it's neck/head/ears? Paw at it's head? Lick at the air? These are just some of the other signs of SM. SM can easily be misdiagnosed as back/leg problems. My vet actually misdiagnosed all 3 of mine until we saw a specialist for each one! Most vets do not know of SM.

Hope you get it figured out! Regardless of the problem your vet should be investigating the cause. Not all dogs cry out in pain. If he is limping it is because of some kind of pain. Most vets take limping seriously, especially if it chronic.